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CIA report on Iraq suggests security situation decaying

A bleak top-secret report by the CIA suggests that the situation in Iraq is approaching a crucial turning point, with ordinary Iraqis losing faith in American-led occupation forces and in the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.

The report, sent to Washington on Monday by the CIA's Baghdad station chief, suggests that the situation is creating a more fertile environment for the anti-American insurgency. Officials said the report was adding to the sense of urgency behind the administration's reappraisal of its policies in Iraq.

The officials said that the report, dated Nov. 10, had been explicitly endorsed by Paul Bremer, the top American official in Iraq.

The CIA and the White House refused even to confirm the existence of the report. But government officials outside those agencies said its conclusions were among the darkest intelligence assessments since the American-led invasion of Iraq in March.

"It says that this is an insurgency, and that it is gaining strength because Iraqis have no confidence that there is anyone on the horizon who is going to stick around in Iraq as a real alternative to the former regime," one American official said.

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